Who are the Friends? Friends promote research, conservation and celebration of the Springs, Spouts, Fountains and Holy Wells of the Malvern Hills and of Great Malvern as a Spa Town.

New Springs and Wells exploration

Our well exploration team have been busy in Surrey this summer. In a historic garden in Leatherhead there is a well that had been partially filled with building rubble many years ago. The owner was keen to discover more about this historic structure and so called in the Friends Exploration Team. Bruce conducted an informal hydrogeological review of the site, which lies in the Surrey chalk downlands. It was suggested that although the well was 15 feet deep it would be worthwhile digging out further to double its depth over three days to see if water could be reached. It is very difficult to find a contractor who will perform such a daunting task. However our team of Well Explorers, led by contractor Harry Penfold, agreed to undertake the challenge.  The well probably dates back to Tudor times, judging by the brickwork; but at about 10 feet down the well penetrated the solid chalk.  Some wells in the chalk have been known to go down to 200 feet or more and so much relied on the hydrogeological assessment to determine whether the venture would produce natural water.  Tons of builder's rubble was laboriously removed by hand from the dark, dank bottom of the shaft and on the third day water was suddenly struck. Enthused by the success, the owner sanctioned further digging and soon the water was two feet deep at the 30 foot level with historic deep side passages increasing the potential flow to the well.

 

Picture - Dr Wilson's Hydropathic Establishment in a later guise as the County Hotel.

The news is that it is all systems go for Celebrated Springs of the Malvern Hills. We have reached agreement with a major publishing house with a view to having the new book available next summer. Since the early 1990s we have been relentlessly researching Malvern Springs and Wells and as a result we have a vast database on 130 locations. This information has been collated on a restricted access web site since the late 1990s and has previously only been made available on request for special purposes. Now all 130 locations will feature in the forthcoming publication. Because of the outstanding heritage of bottling Malvern Water at Colwall, there will be a chapter on the history of bottling spring water around the hills. This book would not have been possible without the support of Coca Cola Enterprises, former bottlers at Colwall. As with all our publications on Malvern Springs and Wells, all proceeds from Celebrated Springs will be redeployed in furthering our spring water heritage.

Picture - where is it and what is its history? Read the new book to find out!

Hospital Fountain presented with St Werstan Award

Malvern's new Community Hospital has two permanent reminders of the town's famous heritage: stone from the Malvern Hills was used in its construction, and an elegant 100-year-old water fountain was installed.  The fountain had been incorporated into the entrance hall of the town's former hospital, which opened in Landsdown Crescent in 1911. A century later, in February 2011, it was carefully dismantled and removed by Cliveden Conservation of Bath and skilfully reassembled in a heritage area outside the ward of the new hospital in Worcester Road. The porcelain basin has four hairline cracks in it, so removing it without causing more damage was particularly difficult.  

The basin was made at Morrison & Ingram's Hygeia works in Manchester and the green tiles surrounding it were made at the Minton China Works in Stoke on Trent. The fountain has been dry for many years, but it is a rare delight to find the original cups and chains still attached.

Six days after the installation HRH the Princess Royal formally opened the new hospital.

In June, following the successful conservation of this heritage drinking fountain, Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells voted to present the St Werstan Award. The award - a solid brass plaque, is to mark the preservation, enhancement and maintenance of the town's water heritage. In August a suitably-inscribed plaque was presented to the hospital by Jim Fox, Head of Public Affairs for Coca Cola Enterprises, who sponsor the award.

Anyone wishing to see the fountain and the other artefacts that were brought from the old hospital should ask the hospital receptionist. 

In the picture Jim Fox presents the award to Sian Edwards of the Malvern Community Hospital, with Sheila Young who attended on behalf of the Hospital Friends and Cora  & Bruce of Friends of Malvern Springs and Wells.

Ancient Waterway reopened after 38 years of endeavour

Droitwich Spa and Salt Heritage took a giant leap forward on the 1^st July with the reopening of the Droitwich Barge and Junction Canals.  Droitwich is a town literally built on salt and its brine waters were imported to Malvern to supplement the Malvern waters for the 19^th century water cure.  Ancient salt routes passed over the Malvern Hills and the Wyche Cutting is testimony to the historic distribution of the local salt since Roman times. The Barge Canal from the River Severn to Droitwich town was built in 1771 to ease the passage of salt down the River Salwarpe. James Brindley was the engineer who modernised the ancient Salwarpe navigation, used since Roman times. The Junction Canal from Droitwich to the Worcester Birmingham Canal was a later addition, making a through route that opened in 1854. Both derelict waterways were formally closed in 1939 and by the 1970s were overgrown, filled and built over.

Max Sinclair, a local enthusiast, in 1959 had a vision of restoration of the scenic through route but it was not until 1973 that the Droitwich Canals Trust was formed, taking over management and ownership of the derelict canals from the local authority. Since then there has been major bridge construction under the M5 and the Kidderminster road, complete rebuilding of the locks and other infrastructure of the canals, significant landscaping the Droitwich Vines Park area, and substantial land purchase and boundary negotiations with local land owners.  Over 12m pounds of HLF monies, and 37 years of volunteer effort both on site and in the boardroom, aided the project which took a further boost after the formation of a working partnership by the Droitwich Canals Trust with County and District Councils, British Waterways and the Waterways Trust in 2001.

The 7.5 miles of restored canal was formally opened by Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment on 1 July, accompanied by dignitaries from the plethora of organisations involved.  Pictured amongst the guests were Max Sinclair, whose vision and leadership of the Droitwich Canals Trust subsequently led to the completed restoration, accompanied by two of the founder honorary directors of the Trust, Ian Bruce and Bruce Osborne with Dick Pearson one of the first Canal Managers in the 1970s.

Today the canals are open for a variety of leisure pursuits including walking, boating, cycling and general recreation. They add considerably to the heritage tourism appeal of Droitwich and will aid the town in economic recovery during these difficult times. Do go and explore - it's well worth the short journey.

Theft of Copper from Holyrood House

We have been following with interest the plight of the local burglars who stole copper from Dr Gully's establishment at Tudor/Holyrood House in the Wells Road. (see Newsletter 38 and 36) We now learn that one individual involved has had his prison sentence reduced to 20 months from 2 years. The grounds for this are apparently based on the premise that a deterrent sentence was unjustified. When so many of us give our time, expertise and effort freely to help preserve Malvern's spa and water heritage, at least it is satisfying to learn that those who seek to do the opposite and plunder the heritage are eventually held to account.

Mulberry Tree Project Amazing Result

Picture: Rachel shows off the incredible recovery of Bernard now he is back with Bernadette (and Rachel of course, lucky chap)

 

While all this is going on we are looking to extend the project internationally. Apart from the Malvern in Arkansas and the Malvern in Victoria, where the saplings originated, we are now researching Malvern in South Australia.  It lies on the south side within the city of Adelaide and is noted for its jacaranda trees. Our interest was initiated when we found a Victorian postcard to Malvern post marked Gumeracha. This township is about 30 miles east of Adelaide's Malvern and was a 19^th century gold field. Bruce's great great grandfather ran a hotel and bar there for a while - The Robert Burns Inn.

Jacobs Fountain update

We learn that the project to restore and enhance the location of Jacob's Fountain has already run into problems in spite of those involved proposing an earlier feasibility study. Apparently the Malvern Theatres do not want to make the proposed alternative site available; which seams a pity in view of the potential wow factor of the fountain, properly restored. This project is important and we keep an eye on it as it was Friends who originally proposed restoration in Newsletter 29 of January 2010. In an attempt to find new direction for this project those involved are asking for any ideas. Send us yours and we will pass them on.